ROCKY MOUNTAIN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 85 
or tribe constitutes himself the ruler, physician, and 
priest. The reverse of this usage or system obtains 
among the North American Indians and most uncivil- 
ized races, not of Semitic origin. The chief among 
the Indians is chosen for his recognized bravery or 
other personal qualifications. To some extent age is 
respected, and particularly when associated with rank; 
but there is no hereditary descent of office or position. 
While the priestly function may be associated with 
that of the physician, the chief or king rarely, or per- 
haps never, combines either with his tribal or rather 
martial office. The professions seem to be open to 
the fullest competition, even females aspiring to the 
honors. Captain Wilkes (vol. iv., p. 399, of his Expe- 
dition) describes the practice of a female physician 
among the Walla Walla Indians of Oregon. 
To appreciate the Indian physician at his real worth 
he must be judged of from a standard of proficiency 
that will take into account his actual knowledge, en- 
vironments, and the wants of, as well as the degree of 
intelligence possessed by, the tribe to which he be- 
longs, and not measured by the exactions which 
civilization and Christianity have established for the 
nineteenth century. As it is my desire to discuss Indian 
medicine as it existed when this continent was dis- 
covered, or at least before its system was modified 
by contact with the whites, it is but proper, in compar- 
ing it with the best practice of to-day, that we should 
remember the progress the science of medicine has 
everywhere made within this period. I will not take up 
your time with an account of their extreme ignorance 
of physiology and their absurd and foolish methods 
